As you know, I have been working the last two years to be a musher. I am, at heart, an educator. And every good educator knows that learning is a big part of teaching. Not only that, but being aware of how we learn is quintessential. 

So this means that my mind is always on and alert thinking and learning from all my experiences, including dog mushing. In the past year I have had to learn how to manage a team of 4, 6, and 10 dogs. This year I have to learn how to manage 16 dogs. This is really not as easy as some people may think. Imagine 16 kindergarten age kids that you must get to run in one direction without being side tracked by one another or distracted by objects in their environment. Good luck! 

So, after the first day of running a 16 dog team with help, I realized that it was possible and I just need to adjust my perspective a bit. The following run however changed everything, again. I had to run my 16 dog team on my own. This meant if there was a problem, I had to fix it on my own, and what was even more of an issue was the break on the 4-wheeler was not at its best. Trying to get off to fix a problem would mean some creative parking so the 4-wheeler would not be pulled away even if it was in gear. 

If this was not bad enough, 15 minutes before the run we discovered we were out of gas. Now, as a teacher I have to be constantly on my toes ready to deal with any problem that presents itself. This is one of the reasons I enjoy working with dogs, it is a lot like working in a classroom. Fast paced, exciting, sometimes dangerous. Finding out about the gas set me into a mode of wearing my administrative teacher hat and quickly finding a solution.

I proposed that the other musher run ahead of me get gas and meet me on the trail for a fill up. The other musher, Rich, cocked his head and thought for a minute. And then he said, " sure I think the dogs can do that." I froze in my steps and thought about what he said, looking at him with "Deer-in-the-headlight-eyes."  He was really looking at the solution from the dogs perspective. Would it hurt them at all if they had to  pull the 4-wheeler for awhile without gas on the trail we were choosing for the day. I on the other hand saw the problem from the perspective of an administrator, which was how could we get the run done as soon as possible without sacrificing time to run out and get gas, wasting more gas in the process. 

Now these are some broad and sweeping statements of perspectives that are represented by teachers and administrators, but in a general sense, this is what happens in a school. As an experienced and comfortable classroom teacher,  I am constantly thinking of my students first, questioning the use of curriculum, technology, methodology I use in the classroom. As a beginner musher, I am not always so great to take off my manage the family and time hat, and put on my teacher hat. But it really needs to be done. If my end goal is for my dogs and myself to be a successful musher, I need to be willing to change my perspective for the benefit of the dogs in this partnership. 

What perspectives have you tried on lately? 

School has started, not just for children, but also for adults. Though we are very active learners and researchers, we have decided to go back to school officially. So this years postings will mix with muses and learnings from our school experiences and how best we can use it to improve videoconferencing.

So getting feedback from the videoconference audience on ideas and projects is very useful, thus the reason for posting on the blog.

This semester I will be creating an action research plan as part of a Classroom Research class. Now I am sure this may seem like a no-brainer for many, but I love the idea of formally researching yourself to make improvements. I am sure that we as teachers naturally do this already, we simply do not formally record the results, force ourselves to look at them, evaluate them and draw conclusions. And then make changes based on these results. I imagine, like for many, we as teachers already have little time to collect and look at results. But when you consider it, we really do this on a subconscious level, so why not simply write the results down? That is what I will be doing this semester.

I will be running an action research plan on how best to create 1 hour quality learning experiences via videoconference. The unusual thing I notice during our distance interactions is the amount of interaction between different classes. We know from experience and research that the more interaction we have during a conference, the more learning occurs and the better experience the students have. The question is then, what exactly must be done to create a consistent learning environment so students have a quality interaction during a video conference. Even more interesting is what level of interaction is most needed by a student (child and adult) to interact at a distance in order to learn? In my experience it has been different among people (both adults and children). Some people only prefer to interact through audio, some through video and some through just text or email. So what must be met in the learning environment for a student to be comfortable to learn in a video conference setting?

Question: What comfort-level (positive learning environment) must be created for students to have the best 1 hour quality distance learning experience? Is it the same for adults as kids? (Comfort level meaning that a student is comfortable enough to interact and learn on a video conference.) (Or is there some level of un-comfort that must be experienced in order for change to occur and thus learning?)

Fact Finding: Research articles about elements of quality distance learning for video conferencing (though a great side bit of research is elements of a quality distance learning over all and then consider how this could incorporate into videoconferencing to build more comfort level.)

Planning: Provide three different types of real-time (synchronous) interactive content for a student and a teacher in 3 different manners; audio, video, text (and possibly a combination.) After interacting with the content, have them evaluate the usefulness of the learning on a scale. Also collect qualitative data on amount and type of interactions during each experience.

If you have thoughts or suggestions on this, share away. (Or if you are having trouble with our comment form below, let us know.)

In the last entry I described, in some detail, what the runs of the Don Bowers were like- the mechanics.

But in reality, the race has another side to it- emotions.

This is, maybe, the most important factor in the dogs performance!

Yes, you must have properly trained them. Yes, they must receive the correct nutrition. Yes, to too many other things to list- but the emotions of the musher deeply effect the dogs.

The saying is “you can't push a rope” and it is so true. The dogs have to want to run for us. And they do! With all their heart! Just watch them in training when you pull out the sled and lines- they go crazy wanting to go for a run. It's in their genetic code as deeply as any lab's desire to chase a ball or retrieve a stick.

It's all fun for them- until it's not.

And I think the fun goes away the second I stop having fun. The second I start treating the race as anything but an extended training run. So that's why it's worth describing my emotions on the race. It's just totally interesting how much they effect the dogs.

The race started out mentally slow and relaxed for me. I had a nice, achievable race plan and no pressure to perform relative to the other teams around me. We ran into our first rest smooth and on track with the slight exception that I got a little frustrated that they slowed down a bit at the end. Actually they slowed enough so that at mile 40 a few teams started to pass us, where as prior to that we were all running in a bit of a bubble at the same speed just a few minutes apart from each other.

That frustration built a bit but I did a good job controlling it, understanding that they were a young team at the end of a hard run through hot temps. I never said anything to them as we slowed and then took our break a few miles early to limit the distance we spent traveling slowly.

My thought at the time was that a good rest would perk them back up, the setting sun would bring colder temps, and the trail would harden up some. All of which turned out to be true and once we got back on the trail we were ripping along again much faster than on our first run- making up the time we had spent going slow!

I was stoked! Emotionally totally pumped at their performance and the decisions I had made! All of which fed back on itself to produce a really great run!

In retrospect though, there might have been a few emotional cracks as I waited out their rest break. It was sunset and I always get down around then anyway but the doubt produced by their drooping performance at the end of the first run didn't help. I worked through it though, by building a small fire and keeping myself busy collecting wood while I waited. Then, when it was time to go, they got so excited they pulled the hook and took off before I was even ready- kind of a pain, but their energy got me excited and away we went!

Late into the second run, with about 10 miles to go- I got really sleepy! Immediately the dogs performance dropped off and we slowed down a fair amount. But then we heard a train whistle in the distance. We can hear that from the house and so it was kind of exciting to hear on the race. Plus, I knew it meant we were almost into the checkpoint. I got excited. The dogs got excited. And away we went... looping into the checkpoint looking like we just started out rather than wrapping up a hundred mile run!

And then came the 8 hr mandatory layover.

I couldn't sleep.

I got lonely.

I questioned everything I was doing.

When it was over we left with me having been awake for over 30 hours! Stupid!

The dogs looked like crap. My sled looked like crap. Even the crystal clear view of mt. Denali looked like crap!

I should have slept because in reality nothing was wrong. After about 5 miles of stop and go running where I was running up to fix every little tangle- something I NEVER do in training- we finally got going. I was frustrated and totally doubted we could even finish! Ahh... not again... my own worse enemy!

Anyway, despite me, the dogs took off and we had a GREAT run for about 35 miles. Or a total run of about 40, which is the exact distance they had trouble during each of the previous runs. It just seems to be a bit of either a physical or mental block for this team at this stage in their lives.

But at that point I was nearing 40 hours without sleep and didn't see it so rationally. I thought the world was crumbling and was certain if I shut the team down for a rest the would never get up. So I made the decision to break my race plan and try to run straight through to the finish.

I got excited at the idea of making such a bold move and- once again- the dogs picked up on it and away we went!

Right up to the point where passed our camp from the trip up!

The pups went from 10.3mph to 0.3mph in about 10 feet!

I then struggled for THREE hours to cover less than a mile! Frustration doesn't even begin to describe my emotions!

In my mind everything I had spent the last 2 years working for was crumbling around me! I was certain I would never race again. Considered getting out of dogs all together. Was thinking everything I was was a big joke!

Finally I gave in, camped the dogs, built a fire, dried my gear, pulled out my sleeping bag and slept!

I woke up freezing, ran up and down the trail to warm up, woke up the dogs and took off......

Whooooooosh!

Away we went. I was refreshed from nap, excited to be under a full moon with my dogs and totally stoked to be on the move again!

We ran the last 40 miles in just a hair over 4hrs. Nearly 2mph faster than we train for and at the end of 200 miles... the longest run of the pups lives!

It was a GREAT finish- 6 hrs later than planned- but still, with a strong dog team that I had trouble stopping at the truck!

And now, nearly a week removed the race, it's clear that all the trouble I have ever had on races is from my own head! The result of getting negative.

And isn't that just the truth of life!

Stay positive!

Oh... and the picture at the top?  It's symbolic because in the middle of a sleep deprived race everything is hyper-contrasted... positive/negative... and now I know what's the next thing I need to work on to someday be the kind of dog driver i want to be1